PCI to discuss and deliberate over new strategies and plans to improve the pharmacy education

Updated on: Thursday, January 31, 2013

The central committee members of the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) will soon be meeting experts from the industry to discuss and deliberate over new strategies and plans that can be adopted to improve the pharmacy education of the country further. Through this meeting which is going to be held in Gujarat in March, the council plans to address regulatory challenges and other issues that pose a constant threat to standard of pharmacy education in the country.

The Council is in the process of strengthening and improving its regulation to meet the current market demands and challenges so as to ensure welfare of the pharmacy students by creating awareness on the PCI approved colleges and courses, safeguarding the interest of the profession, simultaneously. Only PCI approved courses of study and examination are recognised for qualifying for registration as a pharmacist in the country.

While seeking active participation from all the stakeholders in addressing the key issues that effect the pharmacy profession at large, Dr H G Koshia, vice president of the Gujarat State Pharmacy Council, stressed that a collaborative effort between the government and the industry needs to be there to improve and upgrade the current system. He further insisted that active contribution of all the stakeholders is a must to ensure uniform implementation of the educational standards throughout the country.

“Pharmacy as a profession has a huge scope in this country with lot of untapped potential that can be explored for the benefit of the industry with careful planning. However, there are many factors that are found to be compromising the standard of pharmacy education in the country, affecting the reputation of this profession as a whole. What needs to be done is to take steps to address these issues by agreeing upon to follow the prescribed parameters for the benefit of the profession,” he said.

Some of the major issues that have been in the limelight in the recent years have been grant of license to open new pharmacy colleges, illegal B Pharm, M Pharm and Pharm D courses, etc not approved by the council etc. Dr Koshia who is also the commissioner of the Gujarat FDCA pointed out that pro-active steps need to be taken to improve and restructure the current system to make it more effective and hurdle free so as to adopt good governance to uplift the status of pharmacy as one of the most coveted professions in the country.

PCI to discuss and deliberate over new strategies and plans to improve the pharmacy education

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